WRAP up, scrape the ice off the car or scale the black ice to the
bus stop - it's back to work we go.

Hundreds of thousands of us, with a healthy packed lunch and a
determination to lose the Christmas podge, we're all raring to
go... back to bed.

Our heads are full of grand ambitions for the year ahead and our
hearts would just like to cosy up on the sofa for one more day.

Groan all you like, we've all just got to get on with it. And
there's been a fair amount of groaning this past week from the SNP.

Like pantomime dames, they're feigning shock and surprise that
Labour have started their general election campaign with a very clear
message that the only way to get the Tories out is to vote Labour in.

"That old chestnut," said one. "Same old, same
old," said another. They're not groaning because they've
heard it all before. They're groaning because it's true.

You can hear the same noise whenever you mention the oil price.
"Oh no they didn't!" Yes, we did! We have to, because a
falling oil price means jobs and livelihoods and the only buffer we have
is the strength of the Union and the tenacity of our people.

Brent Crude closed at $56.41 on Friday. That's less than half
the $113 a barrel the SNP forecast in the White Paper.

That's not only a desperate situation for the oil and gas
industry, forcing a number of leading experts to call it a crisis, it
also would have been a crisis for the finances of an independent
Scotland.

Now they'll groan and deny that too, by trying to get their
audience to repeat after them: "Oil is a bonus, not the basis of
Scotland's finances."

Then moan a second later about the fact every penny of oil cash for
the past 20 years has been spent on public services.

The oil price shows the economic decision we took as Scots to stay
in the UK was the right thing to do. And all the cries of "oh no it
wasn't" just ring hollow.

So next time you hear a SNP politician groan when they're told
the choice is between Labour or Tories this year, tell them the
referendum is.. "behind you!"

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